The Light in the Woods

 

#30 – THE LIGHT IN THE WOODS – JANUARY 2008

 

© Aubri Dennison 2008

 

1/3/08 Inspirations          Even with the best instruction a lightly motivated person will probably get very little out of the Bible. And with no instruction whatsoever, such a person will likely put it in a corner and say “That’s not for me”. I think a person has to first be touched by the Holy Spirit in order to have the Bible’s words open up to him. I’m still discovering gems of insight from within the Bible that went right by me in the first few readings, because as I travel the spiritual path I’m more and more attuned to the spirituality of the Bible. The Bible is a means in the mystical process, but not necessarily the first or greatest. If someone is struggling with it, they need to use other tools such as prayer, meditation, and contemplation, and chances are that eventually they will be inspired to go back to the Bible and see it with fresh, familiar insight.

 

1/3/08 Inspirations             Today coming home on the snowmobile from the mailbox it suddenly hit me how it’s possible for me to be both conservative and compassionate. I know I’m both, but the media has convinced others this cannot be. And yet when I listen to liberals speak I think “How can you feel that way?” and start to wonder why they sound so compassionate and so self-centered at the same time, just as they accuse the conservatives of being. Is it just lip service? I don’t think so because most of us on both sides truly do put others first. Coming home I suddenly realized that in this, as it seems in everything I espouse, I’m thinking on a totally different plane and due to that I see things totally different from most. The political confusion comes because of this different plane on which I function. I tend to think in more universal terms than others, probably because the most important thing in my life is the universal Creator. Mystics think universally because they think of all people as children of God, not as religious group members or political group members or racial group members or citizens of a certain country. They think of each person as a separate worshiper, with a relationship to their creator that transcends stereotyping. Mystics tend to think of each person as a citizen of the universe, and their compassion is ordered in the totality of all creation. For this reason, I don’t think of the poor and persecuted as someone living in the United States, because when you think globally, America’s poor are the rest of the world’s privileged. I tend to focus on other lands, where there is real poverty and persecution; real injustice and prejudice – where there are people who own only the rags they’re wearing. So my compassion looks beyond left-wing compassion, and I tend to resent those in this country who feel entitled to wasting what has been afforded them, to the detriment of those in other countries who could be appreciating and using well our contributions. Leftists bemoan using our national treasure on the war on terrorists from a comfortable position with little consequence of isolation. But God, when He gives favors, expects them to be used for the good of those who most need them – we have a duty to preserve what we can of those favors so they can be made available throughout the world. It’s not only money we have to give – that is a temporary fix and not meant to be a substitute for the real need worldwide, which is freedom and opportunity. It’s not that I lack compassion; it’s that my compassion looks more like tough love for those who have freedom and opportunity and don’t take advantage of it – it’s not as gentle, but it either gets results or we put our treasure elsewhere. Just because that differs from the isolationist view doesn’t mean I can’t claim the title of “compassionate”.

 

1/3/08 Inspirations              All co-incidence is supernaturally inspired.

 

1/4/08 Inspirations             I’m often in a period of darkness where I and the world I live in seems so sinful it’s hopeless. But God always keeps and avenue open – a slit in the curtain through which divine light shines, even if only faintly. Because when it’s dark I search for light more attentively, it’s in darkness that some of the most awesome and far-reaching insights appear. Today a new concept for me – the devil appeals to our human nature just as God appeals to our divine nature. Jesus, being both human and divine like us yet completely so and therefore unlike us, could be tempted by the devil, but without fear because He knows God prevails. The devil only holds sway over the Earth and cannot influence God’s kingdom. Evil is the spawn of our human nature. How then can I believe we were created perfect? I do believe this – I think we were created with a divine nature – in the image of God. I think man was created without sin but capable of succumbing to it should he exercise his free will to move against God’s will. Once he spread his wings and actually decided to use his free will, then human nature, the tendency toward self-regard, had to manifest itself. Man demanded the right to sin, making consequences necessary. Now the Earth must be imperfect in order for there to be consequences to man’s actions, and in an imperfect world a selfish nature must emerge in the interest of self-preservation. All our troubles, and the Earth’s, stem from our desire to implement our will instead of God’s, and the unwanted chain reaction of imperfection that this sin made necessary. What we call the devil is the personification of our own human nature and what we call suffering is our human nature perceiving the world through the eyes of evil imperfection.

 

1/13/08 Reflections           Disbelief in God is a huge leap of faith. The knowledge of a universe created is basic within us, and must be painstakingly worked around for anyone to be able to deny. But denial of the Creator is a human need brought about by a human weakness – pride. It cannot change the fact of God, because as humans we are too weak to change what the Creator has designed. We lack the rationale for pride, and if we insist on thinking of ourselves as the lords of creation, we are never comfortable because deep down we know we aren’t No one understands better than a scientist how little we know about the universe, and no one displays true humility over it like a spiritual person. There is no disparity here. No doubt, religions have come up with tenets and rituals for supernatural worship that are truly bizarre when contrasted with scientific method, but this is a human failing, and illustrates the fact of a Creator rather than disproves it.

 

1/13/08 Insights from Study          You notice how grief, despair, fear, and all suffering tends to draw one’s thoughts inside one’s self. That is the purpose of trials – they tune out the attention to the outside worlds and concentrate it inwardly, where self and Creator are alone together, and all human emotion is interpreted supernaturally. These are the times when one is closest to God; when one realizes the source of all comfort and the need of all creatures in light of the power of the Creator. To experience this relationship in the receptive state that is a result of trial and darkness is to learn something invaluable about one’s self and, especially, one’s God. This is why the mystics call suffering just one of God’s blessings. To be able to think this way is truly a blessing in itself.

 

1/14/08 Insights from Study        Many are called but few are chosen. It’s a mistake to think that mystics are special be cause out of all the people in the world these few are called by God. Everyone is called by God, because the purpose of life is to love God and affect our return to paradise this way. But you will only recognize the call of God and be receptive to it by having your eyes opened and your ears unstopped; with a purified spirit emptied of the things of the world and open to the grace of God. A mystic is merely one who knows the need for this enhancement and prepares himself for it, so his spirit is ready for God’s call as it comes to him. It may look like God chooses only these few, but in reality it is these few that have done what’s needed to catch God’s call to grace. A radio will not pick up any signals unless it’s been snapped on, even though the signals are constantly being sent to it. My goal is to encourage as many of the called as I can to actually recognize and receive the call, through the preparations of their spirits.

 

1/16/08 Reflections                  If it’s not in my power, it’s not in God’s plan. If God wants something for me, He will give me the means to do it. That doesn’t mean it will never be – I may not be ready yet, or the time isn’t right for it in God’s plan. My job with it, then, is to be patient and work to recognize what God does want for me now – holding in my heart my love for Him and His ways.

 

1/18/08 Inspirations               Within God’s master plan are all the intricate twists and turns that depend on the interaction between our deficient human nature and our conscience. How, when and where the master plan dips down to incorporate the events of our personal lives is something I don’t think we’re meant to understand. At one point I know that we use our free will in order to direct our own lives, and on the other I know that God can intervene at any point if He chooses. At the junction of these two seemingly opposing situations is our pure faith in the creator – turn one way and we humbly glorify Him for His divine care of the universe; turn the other way and we willingly ask Him to affect a situation according to what we want to take place. In short, I believe God does not micro-manage our lives until we ask Him to. He puts in place the master plan, part of which must affect our lives in order to be viable. Often we are touched negatively by the process — the part of the master plan which is necessarily a trial to us because we allow into our spirits the sinfulness that needs overcoming. It’s when we ask God to intervene for us personally that He agrees to affect us personally as well as universally within the master plan. When we come to God to ask for freedom from our suffering, the suffering has done its intended work and is no longer needed and can be relieved. If we live in the grace of God and use our free will to ask for good things, we are showing God not only the adoration we ought to show Him, but also that we accept in faith that He will relieve our trials when by prayer we show we have learned from them what they were designed to teach. Even beyond that, we show acceptance if God decides the trials should not be finished at this time after all. Even Jesus prayed this perfect prayer: “Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42) “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; take away this cup from Me: nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” (Mark 14:36) Jesus of all humans would know that suffering must be part of the master plan for God to reclaim us to Him in His glory. Here He teaches us that it’s OK to pray for God to close a particular part of His plan, and it will be done as long as that fits God’s will for our good.

 

1/18/08 Reflections           In our house we have a woodstove. In the master scheme of our household, the woodstove is a valuable asset because without its warmth we could not survive here. But in order to do us this good it carries a trial – if we get too close to it, the heat will burn us. In order to accomplish what it’s there fore it must also pose a danger. Like the woodstove, God’s master plan is for our good, but it would have no purpose if we did not have our free will to act within it. Like the heat from the stove, our free will can be both beneficial and dangerous. If we let God’s plan alone and act within it according to the way God wills it, it will turn out all right for us. But if we choose to abuse its goodness out of our own need for gratification, the good warmth will become a painful burn. My children learned early on the drawbacks inherent in woodstove warmth. They learned it instinctively because if they got too close the heat would wan them away. They also learned it because we warned them not to be careless around the stove or they would get hurt. God’s word in our hearts and in our laws protects us from making mistakes, if we are humble enough to accept His good authority. Haven’t you ever done something you were told not to, just to test authority? Sometimes you touch the hot stove, and sometimes you act sensibly.

 

1/18/08 Insights from Study            The heavier our suffering the easier it can be to bear, because we realize we can’t bear it alone, and give it over to God to handle. Blessed we are, for God can take our burdens if we ask, and replace them with peace and ease when we need it the most.

 

1/18/08 Inspirations            Everything I read from the mystic tells me God’s word will come to me in passive contemplation. Everything I read from the fundamentalists tells me God’s word will come to me in reading scripture. Everything I know in my heart tells me God’s word will come to me precisely in the way God wills it. I leave myself open to all forms of supernatural communication, because I know instinctively that God in His infinite power can work in an infinite number of ways. For me, for now, I hear God in what He inspires me to write. The fact that I am writing, not contemplating or reading scripture, means only that this is another way God can reach us, and the way He’s chosen for me. To deny another path because it differs from mine is the worst exercise of human pride imaginable. To do this would aspire to limit what God can do – not only is this the evil work of arrogance, it’s bound to fail and it takes a person away from the good work they could be doing.

 

1/18/08 Insights from Study                 (Mark 2:1-12) The story of the victim of palsy being let down through the roof so Jesus could heal him is one of those that takes on a deeper meaning of analyzed rather than just read. It’s nice that the man was cured but the point is that Jesus taught a valuable lesson besides performing a miracle healing. It grieves God that suffering has been made necessary by man’s sin, but how much more it must grieve Him that we keep on sinning. What greater love is shown that He heals our spirits than that shown by the healing of our bodies. Doctor’s can heal our bodies, but it takes the love of God to heal us from our sins.

 

1/20/08 Reflections                I come closer than anyone I know to being in a position where I can, like the mystics tell us, “gaze continually upon God, removed in total from the world”, or like St Paul says “to pray without ceasing”. If I, who have the greatest opportunity to do so, have such trouble attaining to that state, how can there be any hope for someone with a high=pressure job and four kids? Does my culture prevent it, or do I just not understand the principle? I think it’s a little of both. So I aspire to what I think is sensible in my own interior wisdom – I pause to think in many situations at all times of the day how God is important in my life, and how whatever I am doing, if I’ve accepted His grace and want to use it for His glory, I am praying and worshiping by my very actions.

 

1/21/08 Insights from Prayer                     Bible exclusives are no different than the scientists who are comfortable in the doctrine that if science can’t prove it, it must not be so. What if science hasn’t figured out the question it should be asking? He is more likely to get His inspiration from God than he knows. In the same way, when Bible exclusives come across a life situation they Bible isn’t clear about, they do just what the mystics they feel threatened by do – they go to God in prayer for enlightenment. And when mystical communication is flat, dry and distracted, it’s to the Bible one can go to for the seeds of contemplation.

 

1/21/08 Reflections            Last night I found myself making a comment in reply to a blog posting about how mysticism is ruining the church. As in journal entries, I usually feel that God is inspiring my writing, especially if I just write and don’t go back and analyze what I’m writing. The last thing I put in the comment was “Before there was scripture there was mysticism; without mysticism there would be no Bible.” As I went to bed last night I prayed about that, and in the night I mulled it over and realized how very right this statement was. Before the writing of the books of the Bible were God-inspired, the events depicted in them were God-inspired, and they were passed down by word of mouth. Throughout the Old Testament God speaks to His people, and this was carried on in the New Testament through the Holy Spirit. God promised the Holy Spirit to us, so it doesn’t figure that contemplative prayer would be considered unbiblical. Yet many Bible exclusives are against contemplative prayer.

 

1/21/08 Inspirations             “Give me to drink” — Jesus asks for my spirit so He can fill it with the better, living water of His Holy Spirit.

 

1/23/08 Reflections                 Something always irritates me about people who go to themselves – inside themselves – for healing or improvement. They are caught up in so much worldliness that they don’t recognize that healing and improvement comes from God; not from “self”. I can see why fundamentalists confuse this kind of mysticism with true devotional mysticism and so distrust all mysticism. Yet it’s right-minded to want to explore the soul. The trouble with “popular” spirituality is that it’s like we must explore the soul, where our emotions reside, instead of offer the spirit, where God resides, because one implies human control and the other implies supernatural authority. Today’s worldly people refuse to recognize the work of God in the world, and so search for peace in self instead of in faith in God. This is like using a knife to eat soup when a spoon is right there handy. And if we manage to dribble a little liquid into our mouths we congratulate ourselves on having “eaten our soup”. Exploring spirituality without mentioning God is as misguided as exploring global warming without considering God. The desire is good; the results are skewered. But Jesus says if the heart is right let the teacher teach, because whoever isn’t against Him can be for Him. Our popular tendency is to pay attention to inner matter, which is at least better than selling out to worldly things. I just can’t help but wish God had as good a public relations presence as Oprah does.

 

1/26/08 Insights from Prayer                    We know that trials are really God asking something of us – therefore we take the trials as opportunities to obey, and by obeying have the privilege of pleasing God. Of course, humans being what they are, some decide that if the trials God gives us are useful to our joy, adding trials of our own must be even more pleasing and more joyful. But this is misguided in two ways. First, it’s like telling God His methods aren’t good enough, and second, it’s pleasing God that should be our blessed aim, not to gather joy for ourselves. Combating our human pride is one of the hardest things we can do, because human pride is disguised in many forms, and pops up even in the most innocent of situations. We feel holy, thinking we know God and therefore have a natural knack for pleasing Him. But we don’t know God, and our natural tendency is to oppose Him in favor of our human pride. The only remedy is to ask God to help us overcome our pride, in His own perfect way.

 

1/27/08 Inspirations              Some objection to mysticism lies in the doctrine that it should be everything to declare Jesus as our Savior. How many people stop at that point and think: “There now, I’m saved. It’s pretentious to think I can do more than what Jesus has done for me.”? But, to a mystic, Jesus was the means to do what God tells us we must do to carry out the master plan. Through Jesus we can finally know the way to the Father. It doesn’t lie in sacrifices, but in mercy – with love for God and for all His people, whether or not they appear particularly lovable to us. This has always been the plan, but sin distorted it and Jesus brought it back into focus. But we don’t take Jesus’ gift and put it unopened in the back of a closet. For it’s not just about being afforded eternal life; it’s also that we were sanctified to enjoy a relationship with God in this one. It’s through this enjoyment of the Creator that we are able to disperse our own gifts for the carrying out of God’s plan. Beyond accepting Jesus as Savior, we accept our role as partners in this plan.